A report by a Jewish advocacy group has cited Mel Gibson's controversial The Passion of the Christ as the cause of a sharp rise in the number of anti-semitic attacks in Canada last year.

According to the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith's 2004 audit of anti-semitic attacks in Canada, media coverage of Gibson's film - and its apparent suggestion that the role of Jews in the crucifixion should be emphasised over that of the Romans - led to an upsurge in attacks against the Canadian Jewish community.

The film features a scene where Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest whom the Bible represents as accusing Christ of blasphemy, says that the blood of Jesus should "be on us and on our children". The phrase - often referred to as the most inflammatory words in the New Testament - comes from the Gospel of St Matthew and has been commonly deployed by anti-semites through the ages. Gibson had originally made the infamous motto the movie's subtitle, but later removed it as a concession to Jewish interests.

The audit recorded 32 "incidents which had religious connotations to the story of Jesus's death" in 2004, up dramatically from the nine recorded in 2003. Of the 2004 incidents, nine were recorded during the time of the film's opening in February, and a further 15 in the three months following its release.

The incidents cited by the audit ranged from a phone call to a Jewish organisation in which the caller said, "We don't need Mel Gibson's film to hate you!" to a minister alleging that there was a "Jewish plot for world control" on TV.